Quadra Island Medical Clinic is found in a remote and exceptionally beautiful area of Vancouver Island, just off the shores of Campbell River. Dr. Stephen Hughes and his wife Tina moved to the area five years ago and have since embraced the natural lifestyle of Quadra Island.
Despite the relative isolation, Dr. Hughes is committed to improving his practice and staying up to date with the latest guidelines to ensure his patients on Quadra Island receive excellent care. Running a busy clinic with long hours can make it challenging to find time for reviewing and improving existing processes. Meg Cybak, a Practice Support Program (PSP) coach, supports physicians in Campbell River and the surrounding area. Meg’s role is to utilize Quality Improvement (QI) methodology, coaching, facilitation and change management principles to enable primary care teams to adopt the attributes of the Patient’s Medical Home (PMH) and sustain practice improvements. PSP aids physicians and their teams across the province by also offering sessional funding and CME credits for such quality improvement work.
In early 2022, Meg met with the Quadra Island Medical team to discuss post-COVID challenges. They identified that the current process for documenting pap recall dates and tracking pap results was causing duplication and unnecessary administrative work. Additionally, it was identified that only 31% of the eligible population had completed cervical cancer screening. Colorectal screening was also highlighted as an area needing improvement. A phased approach was applied to both cervical cancer screening and colorectal screening with an initial outreach focus on all eligible patients, and then a secondary focus targeting those at highest risk. Outreach included personalized letter signed by Dr. Hughes which seemed to encourage greater uptake of screening rather than the general letters previously sent out from BC Cancer Agency.
In August 2023, Kent Marley, the Clinical Services Manager for HDC, connected with Meg to offer Dr. Hughes an opportunity to review his HDC data. Upon reflection of the data, it became evident that the recent quality improvement projects had made a significant impact. The HDC graph showed that their cervical screening rate had increased from 31% in 2022 to 84%. Dr. Hughes was so inspired and excited to share with other staff just how much their hard work was paying off. The HDC Discover application demonstrated evidence of their achievements, allowing the team to celebrate their success, and continue tracking their progress.
“The main benefit to my practice is a direct comparison with other offices in our area,” explains Dr. Hughes. “The application allows me to explore whether I am far from the ‘norm’ and if so, why?”
In subsequent meetings, Dr. Hughes and Meg used HDC Discover to identify further quality improvement opportunities, such as patients without pneumococcal vaccinations and diabetics with elevated A1Cs needing follow-up. Through coaching conversations, Meg helped develop these ideas into a structured plan, known as an facilitation cycle, providing an aim statement, a clear outline and scope of the work, identifying key steps and measures for tracking progress throughout the project cycle.
“HDC Discover makes it very easy to track the measures I am focused on,” Dr. Hughes continues. “If there is an area where we seem to be lagging behind then it is worth exploring in more detail. The more physicians and clinics who contribute to the database, the better and more accurate comparisons become. The HDC system is a great asset if you are interested in patient care on the population and individual level.”
By merging the resources of PSP with the analytical capabilities of HDC clinics can achieve unprecedented quality improvement in their practice. PSP offers tailored coaching, workflow optimization, and practice management support, while HDC provides detailed data analysis and visualization tools. This collaboration allows clinics to make data-driven decisions, track their progress, and implement evidence-based improvements. For instance, using HDC Discover, clinics can analyze patient data, identify gaps in care, and then refine their practices with PSP’s structured facilitation cycle, ensuring continuous improvement and better patient outcomes across the province. Through these comprehensive services, PSP and HDC empower physicians to deliver higher quality care, addressing both clinical and administrative challenges in their practices.
Interested in knowing more? Contact PSP at psp@doctorsofbc.ca or your HDC Client Services Manager at info@hdcbc.ca
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